


Talking

by MusicalFangirl00193



Category: Guardians of Childhood - William Joyce, Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/F, M/M, Meet-Cute
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-17
Updated: 2017-01-17
Packaged: 2018-09-18 04:58:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,280
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9368948
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MusicalFangirl00193/pseuds/MusicalFangirl00193
Summary: E. Aster Bunnymund loses his adopted daughter in the park. He gets a lot more for the five seconds of sheer panic than he thought he would.





	

“Sophie?” I called, looking around. I had looked away for two seconds and she had run off.

“Sophie?” I called again, looking everywhere I could think of for a little girl to hide.

A bout of giggles near the entrance of the play structure drew my attention. “Sophie,” I called again. Sophie turned when she heard her name. She smiled and ran up to me.

“Hi Hop-Hop,” she said, grabbing my hand and leading me over to her new friend. She ran off almost immediately, her three-year-old attention span run out.

“I hope she didn’t bother you,” I said, watching Sophie for a second before turning to the man she had dragged me to meet.

“She wasn’t any trouble at all,” the man said. “Hop-Hop?”

I snorted, “I adopted her last year. My best friend calls me Bunny, she knows that bunnies go hop hop, so…” I said with a shrug. “Hop-Hop.”

“How does a man like you get a nickname like Bunny?” the man asked.

“Last name's Bunnymund, but you can call me Aster,” I said.

“Jack Frost,” the man said, “Jamie thinks it’s funny but accurate,” Jack said, gesturing to his hair.

“Seems appropriate,” I said. “I thought I’d met everyone who came to the park, considering how often Sophie drags me here.”

“Parks weren’t really my scene until about a week ago,” Jack said. “I grew up in Burgess, but I moved away four years ago. I moved back last week, Jamie needed me.”

I nodded, “Family before everything, right?”

“Yeah,” Jack agreed, “I just wish it hadn’t taken so much to make me realize it, though.”

“Took me a while to realize it myself. By the time I realized it, my opportunity was gone. The friend I mentioned earlier, Nicholas St. North, suggested adoption, and along came Sophie.”

“It looks like Sophie and Jamie get along well,” Jack commented, nodding towards where the two children were playing. “I hate to ruin their fun, but I have to take him to the babysitter before I go to work.”

“I could watch him,” I volunteered, “You can pick him up from my place when you’re done at work.”

Jack thought for a moment. “Okay,” he conceded. “I just have to tell Jamie you’re in charge.”

I chuckled, knowing how 8-year-olds could be, this one especially, and dug a piece of paper from Sophie’s bag, writing my address and phone number on it. “Just call when you’re on your way,” I said, handing the paper to Jack when he came back my way.

“Thanks, Aster,” Jack said, grabbing the paper with a grin, “Are you sure you can handle both of them?”

I scoffed. “I can handle Jamie Bennett any day, go to work.” 

“Thanks again,” Jack said, running off to his car in the parking lot, a light blue Volkswagen convertible with a white canvas top.

I grinned after him for a moment before turning my attention back to Jamie and Sophie. “Just another hour you two,” I called to them, settling on a bench and watching them.

“Kay-kay Hop-Hop,” Sophie called before re-immersing herself in whatever fantasy world she and Jamie had made for themselves.

My grin broadened, deciphering the game of make believe that was being played out in front of me.

* * *

“Honey, I’m home!” Jack called, barging into my house like he owned it.

“Looks like I come at perfect time,” North said, raising an eyebrow at me. “Jamie’s father?”

“Older brother,” I said with a shake of my head as Jamie and Sophie herded him into the kitchen. 

“I take it you all had a fun day,” Jack said, scooping Jamie up and listening to his chatter.

“We stayed at the park for another hour, then came back for lunch,” I said, pulling out a chair so he could sit with his arm full of 8-year-old. “He has quite the imagination on him,” I commented as Sophie climbed onto my lap.

“You wouldn’t believe how much trouble it gets him in at school, he’s never still,” Jack said.

“He has already gotten you domesticated, Bunny,” North commented with a laugh, drawing Jack’s attention to him.

“You must be the Mr. St. North Aster mentioned earlier,” Jack said with a nod. “I’d shake your hand, but…” he gestured to his brother with his head.

“Please,” North said, “Call me North, I’m old enough as it is without others making me feel it.”

“North tells great stories,” Jamie yelled, “He does voices and everything.”

“Wha do ya mean domesticated?” I asked North, giving him a glare. 

“You are pulling out chairs for him, for crying out loud. And how long did you know Jack before jumping to watch Jamie?”

“I’ve babysat Jamie before.”

“For Elizabeth,” North added, “Once, when child was four!”

“No need to be so specific,” I said. “Do you and Jamie want to stay for dinner?” I asked Jack, ignoring North. “We made pigs in a blanket and Jamie’s very proud.”

Jack laughed, “Sure,” he said. “Sounds like fun.”

* * *

“Aster?” Jack asked, looking up at me from where he was laying on my couch. Since winter had come, Jamie and Sophie had demanded weekly playdates at one of our houses.

“Yeah?” I asked, glancing from my sketchbook to look at him where his head was resting on my lap.

“When we met, that first day at the park,” Jack trailed off, playing with his fingers. “You said that you thought your chance to have a family had passed you by, why did you think that?”

I sighed, closing my sketchbook and setting it aside. “I lost them,” I said softly, running a hand through Jack’s hair, unthinkingly. “She was my high school sweetheart. We married the day after graduation, we were young and stupid, thought that this infatuation could get us through anything.

“When we had our first fight,” I continued, my voice cracking, “She stormed out of the house, said she was going to her mother’s house. The last thing she ever said to me was that she hated me. Then she was gone. The hospital called me an hour later, she’d been in a car wreck. 

“She was in a coma for three weeks, a machine breathing for her and everything. She was declared brain dead,” I stuttered, “She was gone. And the real kicker is, she had been pregnant. She’d only just found out, she was going to tell me that night, but then we started fighting.

“I got really depressed after that. North had to make sure I was still eating and taking care of myself. By the time I had gotten over it, my life had almost completely passed me by. But I cleaned myself up, took care of myself, just to prove I could. A few years after that, I realized what I had been missing and began to look into adoption. Along came Sophie.”

“Wow,” Jack said quietly, playing with my fingers now instead of his own. “It must have been awful.”

“It was,” I agreed softly, “But if I had the chance to do it all over again, even knowing how it would end, I’d do it in a heartbeat.” 

Jack nodded slowly, obviously thinking hard. “Have you ever thought about moving on?”

“A couple times,” I said, “If it was the right person.”

Jack hummed, the thoughtful look still on his face.

“What about you? Anyone special in your life?”

“Nope, there is this one guy, though,” Jack said, a light blush covering his cheeks, “He’s helped me through a lot.”

I ignored the flash of jealousy in my chest. “Anyone would be lucky to have you. You’re kind, caring, and great with kids. You’re perfect.”

Jack’s blush grew deeper. “You’re just saying that,” he muttered.

“You know I don’t just say things, Jack,” I said, “You know me well enough to know that I don’t talk just to hear my own voice.”

Jack looked at me for a second before his grin grew wider, “Flattery,” he accused, surging up to press our lips together. “Jamie’s been getting ideas you know,” Jack said when our lips parted.

“What about?” I asked, leaning back against the couch, my hand finding its way back to Jack’s hair, fingers carding through the white strands.

“Us. Being together. He said we act like Mom and Bob used to…before.”

I nodded, remembering what had happened to Elizabeth Bennett. “I don’t think anyone saw that coming, Bob hid it well.”

“I should have known something was wrong when Mom stopped coming to visit.”

“It wasn’t your fault,” I said, pressing a kiss to Jack’s forehead. “No one saw it coming until it happened.”

“I lived in the same house as him for four years. I should have seen something! But I left them alone with him the first chance I got.”

“Jack,” I said firmly, forcing him to look me in the eye. “It is not your fault. The only thing you could have accomplished was getting yourself killed too, then where would Jamie be?”

“Sometimes,” Jack said, his voice trembling, “When I look at Jamie, all I can see is Bob, and at night, when I have nightmares about what happened to her that night, Jamie will come in because of his own nightmare, or because I woke him, and I’ll barely recognize that he isn’t _Bob_ and keep from hitting him.”

“But you’d never do that Jack,” I said, pulling the younger man up and into a hug as close as I could. “You do what’s best for him, and take care of him before yourself. You do everything you can for him, and I can tell he adores you. Stop worrying for a bit and think about yourself. You aren’t alone anymore. You don’t have to take care of everything all the time.” 

Jack smiled at me, resting his head on my chest. “Does this mean I’m going to get the shovel talk from North now?”

“No,” I said, rubbing his back, “I might, though.”

Jack laughed, “Then you’ll get four. Koz won’t let you go without one, and he’ll have to translate Sandy’s and Tooth can be vicious when she wants to be.”

“Sounds like I’m in for a fun filled Saturday,” I murmured into Jack’s hair. “Who’s do you think will be the worst?”

“Koz,” Jack said with a yawn, “His threats can be very…creative.”

* * *

“It finally happened,” North commented, “Took you long enough.” 

I gave North a look, “Since when is my love life your problem?”

“I worry about you Bunny,” North said, resting his hand on my shoulder. “You haven’t been the same since she died. Jack makes you happy, let him. But if you hurt him, my swords haven’t tasted blood in a while.”

I nodded, picking up the cake and carrying it into the dining room. “Happy Birthday Sophie,” I said, setting the cake down in front of her. “Love ya.”

Sophie smiled up at me. “Love you too Hop-Hop.” 

“Blow out your candles ankle biter,” I said, kissing Sophie on the top of her head.

She eagerly turned to the cake, with a large “4” candle and three others on top.

“Make a wish,” Jamie chirped from his chair next to Sophie.

The young girl closed her eyes tight before opening them with a grin and blowing out the candles. 

“What did you wish for?” Jack asked from where he was standing next to me.

Sophie looked to Jamie.

“Don’t tell anyone,” Jamie whispered, leaning into Sophie, “Or it won’t come true.”

Sophie nodded, accepting the older boy’s wisdom. “Can’t tell,” she said, shaking her head at Jack.

Jack grinned at her, ruffling her hair. “Good thinking, it’s always good to have your wishes come true.”

Sophie grinned at Jack before turning to me. “Cake time Hop-Hop?”

“Course,” I said with a grin. “Cake time.”

* * *

“So you finally manned up and did it,” Jack’s friend Tooth said, standing in the doorway while I cleaned up a bit, Jack had the kids playing some game in the back garden.

“I did,” I said, turning to face her, “Bit mad at myself that I didn’t do it sooner.”

Tooth looked me up and down for a moment. “Just keep in mind,” she said with a cold, sharp grin. “My wife knows the woods around here like the back of her hand. It would be hard to find a body the park ranger hid.” And she left.

“That’s two down,” I muttered, peering out the window to where everyone was watching the kids. “Two to go.”

* * *

Sitting outside, watching the kids run around like wild things, I felt that nothing could ruin this day.

Then Kozmotis Pitchner, known by Pitch or Koz depending on who you were talking to, sat next to me.

“Jack has told us about you,” the dark man said, “He had literal hearts in his eyes. If those hearts go away by your fault, I still have some…undesirable contacts that can help me. And Sandy would like me to inform you that several of the tools and supplies he uses can be quite deadly if need be.” And with that, he got up and rejoined his husband.

* * *

“So how’d it go?” Jack asked later that evening when both kids had crashed from their sugar highs and were sound asleep.

“Fine,” I said, wrapping him in a tight hug. “I have nothing to fear, though, since I’ll never hurt you. I’d sooner die myself than hurt you.”

Jack hummed softly. “I think I love you,” he whispered, leaning up for a kiss.

“I think I love you too,” I agreed.

And really, what else mattered but that?

**Author's Note:**

> Not Beta read, all mistakes are my own.


End file.
